Some shareholders of
financial-news website TheStreet.com compared its board to North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In a
letter on Wednesday, Spear Point Capital Management, which
has a 10% stake in the company, accused the board of manipulating
the process to elect new directors.

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Rodney Bienvenu, Spear Point's cofounder, wrote that after board
member Keith Hall resigned on Monday, he created a second vacancy
following the resignation of CEO Elisabeth DeMarse in February.

And now the shareholders are concerned that the board is stifling
their recommendations, bent on appointing someone instead of
opening up the process to a vote.

An appointment is the board's prerogative. But the problem,
Bienvenu said, is that most of TheStreet's current directors were
appointed by the board and not through a shareholder vote.

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"Over the past year alone we have seen the Board block
stockholder director nominations, including ours, add or subtract
Board seats to apparently avoid stockholder elections, and abuse
its limited power to appoint new directors," he wrote.

And here's the excerpt that stings (emphasis added):

Considering the value destruction that the Board has
inflicted on shareholders over the years, we would think it would
bend over backwards in regard to shareholder concerns, rather
than hiding behind questionable legal justifications to block
shareholders from exercising their rights to have a say on who
sits on the Board. Common sense would dictate that as well. In
comparison, the Board's view of corporate democracy makes
Kim Jong-un look like a veritable Thomas Jefferson. No matter
what the Board may feel about shareholders, they work for us. If
they find that concept so distasteful, perhaps they should find
other things to do with their time or take this Company private
at a fair price to shareholders.

In a
letter on Thursday, TheStreet CEO Larry Kramer said that he
discussed these concerns with Spear Point last week, and the
letter "is particularly surprising and
disappointing."

"We have in fact taken steps to add transparency to
the nomination process and better align ourselves with best
practices for public companies," Kramer said.

Spear Point nominated two board members in March:
Johannes Minho Roth, CEO of FiveT Capital, and
Lex Fenwick, former Bloomberg CEO. But the board did not think
that either of them had the mix of industry expertise and
financial chops required for a seat, Kramer said.

And now, Spear Point wants to deny quorum at the
next annual meeting by withholding its 3.4 million shares from
being counted.